Canceled: Dartmouth College Glee Club

October 29, 2023

This event occurred as part of the 23/24 Hop Ensemble season. This is an archived view.

The club kicks off the year with a selection of choral favorites.

23/24 Hop Ensemble

This event has been canceled.

Filippo Ciabatti, director

Funded in part by the Glick Family Student Ensemble Fund, the Leo J. Malavasic Memorial Fund, the Isaacs Family Fund, the Bruce F. Bundy 1916 Memorial, the Susan J. Marshall 1980 Memorial Fund, the David P. Smith 1935 Fund, the Student Ensemble Fund, and gifts from Friends of the Dartmouth College Glee Club. Photo: Ben DeFlorio

The Program

The Hop Presents

Dartmouth College Glee Club
Filippo Ciabatti, director

and Erma Mellinger, assistant conductor and vocal coach
Henry Danaher, accompanist

Sunday, October 29, 2 pm
Church of Christ • Dartmouth College • 2023

Funded in part by the Glick Family Student Ensemble Fund, the Leo J. Malavasic Memorial Fund, the Isaacs Family Fund, the Bruce F. Bundy 1916 Memorial, the Susan J. Marshall 1980 Memorial Fund, the David P. Smith 1935 Fund, the Student Ensemble Fund and gifts from Friends of the Dartmouth College Glee Club.

About the Artists

Praised for his “sensitive and nuanced” musicianship and for delivering performances “with admirable sweep and tension,” Filippo Ciabatti is a dynamic and versatile conductor who enjoys a multifaceted career.

A native of Florence, Italy, Mr. Ciabatti has appeared as a guest conductor with numerous orchestras in Europe and the Americas, including the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Festival Orchestra (Sweden), Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori (Italy), Park ICM Orchestra (Missouri), Universidad Central Orchestra (Colombia), Concord Orchestra (Massachusetts), and members of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Italy). He regularly serves as cover conductor for the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine) and will make his guest conducting debut for them in 2024. This year, he will also make his guest conducting debut with the Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra and the San Angelo Symphony (Texas).

Mr. Ciabatti has collaborated with artists including Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim, baritone Nathan Gunn, cellist Gabriel Cabezas, pianist Sally Pinkas, flutist Luciano Tristaino and mandolinist Carlo Aonzo. An advocate for contemporary music and collaborations between musical genres, he premiered a secular oratorio composed by renowned jazz composer Taylor Ho Bynum, and commissioned a cello concerto by composer Noah Luna that was aired on NPR’s From the Top.

Starting in October 2023, he will serve as Assistant Conductor of Boston Baroque, the first conductor to be named to that position in the renowned ensemble’s 50-year history. He is the founding Artistic Director of Upper Valley Baroque, a professional orchestral and choral ensemble specializing in Baroque music, which after only two seasons has already received critical acclaim and regularly performs to sold-out houses.

Also at ease on the opera stage, Mr. Ciabatti has recently been named Music Director of the Opera Company of Middlebury, where he made his debut with a production of Fidelio in June 2023. While serving as guest conductor at Opera North (New Hampshire) and Lyric Theatre at Illinois, he conducted many full operatic productions, including Puccini’s Tosca and Madama Butterfly, Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Mozart’s Don Giovanni starring and directed by Nathan Gunn.

Mr. Ciabatti is the Director of Orchestral and Choral Programs at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. Since the beginning of his tenure, he has been invested in working on innovative and cross-disciplinary projects that provide exceptional opportunities for both students and audiences. Among others, he collaborated on projects with Martha Graham Dance Company and with Associazione Figli d’Arte Cuticchio, the award-winning company which sustains the historic Sicilian art of “opera dei pupi.” In 2018, he led a Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra tour to Italy, performing Mahler’s Fifth Symphony at prominent venues and festivals, in collaboration with the Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori.

As a collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Mr. Ciabatti has been on the faculty of Camerata de’ Bardi in New York City, and Scuola Italia per Giovani Cantanti Lirici in Sant’Angelo in Vado (Italy). He is currently on faculty at the summer opera program Opera Viva! in Verona (Italy). He has played for masterclasses with Renée Fleming, Isabel Leonard, William Matteuzzi and Donald George. In Italy, he worked as vocal coach for the Cherubini Conservatory, Maggio Musicale Formazione and Florence Opera Academy.

Mr. Ciabatti holds advanced degrees in piano, choral conducting and orchestral conducting from Italy and the United States. He is the winner of the 2021 American Prize in Conducting (college/university division). In 2018, he served as a Conducting Fellow at the Aurora Music Festival (Sweden), under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

Henry Danaher serves as the Director of Music at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, and he is a Dartmouth College alumnus with a degree in Mathematics, belonging to the class of 2008. As an undergraduate, he sang with the Glee Club under the direction of Louis Burkot, won the Mark L. Lebowitz 1977 Memorial Prize in the Performing Arts (2008), earned citations for coursework in Counterpoint and the Psychology of Learning, and was awarded an American Mathematical Society scholarship to study Mathematics in Moscow, Russia in 2005. Besides accompanying the Dartmouth College Glee Club this term, his recent musical work at the College includes collaborations with the Coast Jazz Orchestra, accompanying the Joseph Keckler masterclass with the Dartmouth Opera Lab, performing during the Hop’s Explore the Arts event, providing music for alumni memorial services and assisting with musical direction and piano accompaniment for the First-Year Project with the Department of Theater. He is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists, attaining professional certification with them in 2019.

Mezzo-soprano Erma Mellinger has been a principal artist with many opera companies across the United States including the Cleveland Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera Theater, the Fresno International Grand Opera, Opera Maine and the Chautauqua Opera. Her roles, in over 30 operas include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Preziosilla in La forza del destino. She has performed with Sherrill Milnes, James Morris and Diana Soviero and has sung Master Classes with Frederica Von Stade and Mignon Dunn. Conductors with whom she has worked include Harry Bicket, Stephen Lord, John DeMain and Willie Waters.

Hailed for her “rich, vibrant, creamy voice,” Ms. Mellinger is also at home on the concert stage appearing as soloist with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Monterey Symphony and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Mellinger appeared as soloist with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College in tours of England, France, Germany and Italy, performing in venues including Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Ms. Mellinger has been a member of the Dartmouth College faculty since 1996. In addition to her duties as voice instructor (Senior Lecturer), she serves as the Assistant Director and Vocal Coach of the Handel Society and the Glee Club. Ms. Mellinger presents solo recitals and chamber music concerts on campus through the ChamberWorks Series. Ms. Mellinger is a former director of Cantabile, a Women’s Chorus based in Vermont and New Hampshire. In addition, Ms. Mellinger has directed church choirs and has served as both Stage Director and Music Director for numerous community theater productions. She is a sought-after clinician in the field of vocal production, having most recently worked with the University Chorus and Chamber singers of Brandeis University.

Ms. Mellinger earned her Bachelor of Music Degree with Highest Distinction (First in Class) from Northwestern University. She received the Performer’s and the Opera Certificates as well as a Teaching Excellence Award while at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester where she earned her Master of Music Degree and began her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree before embarking on her singing career.

Dartmouth College Glee Club

Filippo Ciabatti, director
Erma Mellinger, assistant conductor and vocal coach
Henry Danaher, accompanist

Soprano
Mikaela Browning ’26
Elaine Li ’25
Clara Schreibman ’27
Janel Sharman ’27
Camila Taylor ’27
Lily Tuttle ’27
Vivian Wang ’27 +

Alto
Audrey Kim ’27
Faith Koontz ’27
Claire Mann ’27
Iris Montesano ’27
Edith Stevenson ’27
Lia Symer ’27 +

Tenor
Jacob Bacus ’27
Jack Chou ’27
Samuel Halfpenny ’26 +
Jackson LaManna ’27
Noah Martinez ’27
Nicolas Macri ’24

Bass
Victor Balbino ’24
Joseph Haggerty ’27
Joseph Kuester ’27
Wesley Liao ’24
Colby Lish ’25 *+
Aidan Muller ’27
Christopher Smith ’25

* denotes Student Manager
+ denotes Section Leader

Dartmouth College Glee Club

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2023/24 Season

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